The Orthodox Church of Bulgaria announced this week the election of a new spiritual leader to succeed the late Patriarch Maxim. After a meeting on Sunday, February 24, the Holy Synod announced the election of Metropolitan Neofit of Ruse, who was enthroned at Sofia’s Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral later that day.
A native of Bulgaria, Patriarch Neofit studied liturgical music in Sofia and at the Moscow Theological Academy in Russia. He became a priest in 1975, and was elevated to the rank of bishop in 1994.
